Something to Talk About
by Eggstasy
Summary: "Trunks and Goten having a fight is a world crisis that ranks somewhere around Frieza's arrival to Earth. Not quite as bad as Cell, but worse than a couple Saiyans with plans to wipe out all sentient life." Trunks and Goten friendship fic, Krillin's POV


Trunks and Goten having a fight is a world crisis that ranks somewhere around Frieza's arrival to Earth. Not quite as bad as Cell, but worse than a couple Saiyans with plans to wipe out all sentient life. It might just be because word travels fast, but if the two of them are having a disagreement powerful enough to notice, then it's something to talk about. Bulma and Chichi call each other and talk, at least.

Then Bulma calls Yamcha for advice on how to fix things, and he tells her to stop interfering in the boys' problems; but he'll still call me and tell me what happened. Chichi goes to Gohan and asks him to talk to Goten, but he respectfully declines and then...calls me and tells me what happened. I then share the information with my wife and Master Roshi purely out of social duty. Marron sometimes overhears and asks me worriedly if they'll be okay, and I tell her that boys fight and that's just how things go.

Sometimes half-Saiyans just fight a little rougher and a little louder than normal human boys.

It's funny; to think the goings-on between to teenage boys is the talk of our gang. I guess it's not _too_ strange, all things considered. The sons of two guys who've been rivals for as long as they've known of each other are the best of friends and also some of the most powerful beings on Earth. If you think about it that way, it's only natural they'd be the center of our attention.

...but really sometimes I think we talk about them because they just make themselves so damn interesting. When those two have a fight, they really pull out all the stops.

It was bad timing though; we were having a get-together to celebrate both Trunks' twentieth birthday and Goten getting accepted to college, and with both the men of the hour busy glaring daggers at each other everyone knew it wasn't going to end well.

For the most part, they avoided one another. Goten hung around Marron for a while, played with Pan. Let Chichi show off her "second scholar boy" and reminded her with no little amount of blushing that it wasn't a very prestigious school, that he barely got in by the skin of his teeth, that his GPA was something so horrible that it shouldn't be stared at directly lest you go blind. She ignored that for the most part and gushed like the proud mother she was. That probably cheered him up.

Trunks, meanwhile, waited excitedly as the hired bartender mixed him his first ever drink and went to show it off; "real vodka in there" he'd pointed out before downing it. He gagged, and Yamcha laughed and slapped him on the back for it but he still went back for another. Called it his earned birthright as an adult and the firstborn of the Prince of all Saiyans. That kid is a little nuts, but considering who his parents are I guess it shouldn't be a surprise.

Things went downhill when Goten asked his mother if Goku knew about him being accepted. She'd frozen, then stammered out a hasty reply that wasn't much more than, "I don't know." He'd taken it well, obviously used to that sort of thing, but I know I'm not the only one that noticed Trunks looking over when he'd asked. Bulma tried to cover up the awkward atmosphere by having the cake brought out, but then we ran into another problem; it was huge, yeah, but it was for the both of them. Who would cut it first?

Trunks and Goten's eyes met and immediately we all knew it wasn't going to be pretty. Trunks had that look that remind us all of Vegeta, and Goten had that look that reminds us of just _how loud_ he could get when he was throwing a tantrum all those years ago. They didn't even need to spike their ki levels; we already just _knew._

"Fight you for it," Trunks growled, and that was how _that_ went.

It was so messy. Only a few punches had been thrown but already Goten had a bloody nose and beneath his eye Trunks' cheek was already swelling up. When they showed no sign of stopping within ten seconds Gohan was rolling up his sleeves and handing his glasses to Videl and Chichi was marching over in their direction. They were both cut off by Vegeta stalking over.

First of all, when Vegeta stalks _anywhere_ you pay attention, especially when he's got that look on his face. Goten and Trunks didn't stop right away, but they sure did once Vegeta slapped them both on the back of their heads, grabbed them by the scruffs of their necks and dragged them both over to the gravity room behind the house. I, of course, followed purely with the intent of keeping the peace, not because I wanted to see or anything. I made it in time to see him slam the door shut, spin the pressure valve and walk away.

When he came back, he calmly walked over to the cake, cut himself a huge piece and went back to the tree he'd been sitting beneath to eat it. The rest of us sort of stared; I mean, technically it was _their_ cake. But Vegeta had a look on his face that said we shouldn't bother the boys (if only for our own personal safety) and when Chichi stepped forward to start slicing up portions for everyone we took that as a sign to just proceed.

It was about half-an-hour before we heard anything. There was a loud clank, and we scurried over to the side of the complex to see what was happening. What we saw was Goten approaching the side of the main house, blood on his face and shirt and his hair sticking to the sweat on his neck with torn clothes and one shoe missing. The side door to the house had just slid shut, and it was safe to assume that was Trunks that just ran inside.

What did I tell you? They really tear into each other.

Not a moment later, Trunks was back out of the house -looking no better than Goten- and jogging over to the Son. I felt Gohan's ki flicker just a little bit, and I knew he was getting ready to intervene if necessary; I wondered if the boys knew we were watching them, but honestly I'm not sure if it would've mattered. Those two kids sometimes just get lost in whatever they're doing, like they're worlds away. You can only blame that on being young for so long. Sometimes I wonder if the fusion ever really let them go, even though they haven't done it for years.

We couldn't really see what was going on; Trunks' back was blocking their hands, but I could tell he was handing something to Goten. Goten tried to shove it back, but Trunks pushed the thing -a little white box, it looked like- back against his chest. Goten clutched it, lowered his head. He sure was blinking a lot-

"Okay," said Gohan, and started ushering us back around the house, but I'm short and so that gives me free reign to duck beneath his arm. They were...I think hugging, though I don't see Goten hugging back. More like Trunks was just holding him. My spying was cut short when Gohan exasperatedly gave a tug on my arm. "C'mon Krillin, give them some privacy."

Ahhh, yeah. I can hear Goten crying now.

They didn't join us for another fifteen minutes, still looking like hell. Bulma offered to fetch them senzus but they declined -in unison- and headed over to the cake to help themselves. Chichi immediately -predictably- made a beeline for Goten and began mothering over his bruises, scratches, the blood crusting on his face from his nose and mouth. He tried to eat his cake as she wet a handkerchief in a glass of water to clean him up a little, sitting down and attempting to nudge her away gently.

"So," I said, purposefully loud and ignoring Gohan's warning stare, "what was it you gave Goten, Trunks? Must've been good for you two to stop being at each other's throats."

Trunks made a face, but then Bulma latched onto the topic and he knew he was caught. Awkwardly he took a seat on the grass next to Goten -like it should be, I reflected fondly- and poked at his piece of cake before shoving a forkful into his mouth. "My car," he mumbled around it, and I almost didn't hear that so it was fortunate that both Bulma and Chichi echoed him with a pair of shrieks.

"Your _car?__!_"

Goten flushed and shoveled cake into his mouth.

"Trunks, I had that made specifically for you!" Bulma lectured, but Trunks responded to her with a tone that was borderline disrespectful.

"And that makes it mine, and I can do whatever I want with my stuff." When she flared again, he cut her short with a wave of his hand. "I was gonna give it to him anyway, he'll need it more than I will. And I'll earn my next one, so chill out already. Besides, Goten gave me something else in return for my birthday, so it's not like I'm just handing out stuff left and right."

Chichi leveled Goten with a hard look and he cowered a bit, choking on his mouthful. "Goten, what did you give Trunks?"

Trunks grinned. "First blood."

What did I tell you? _Saiyans._ They're certifiably crazy. Then again, that could just be the Vegeta in him.

That seemed to settle their dispute well enough though, and we left it at that. The two of them always seem to work out their differences on their own without any help from the rest of us, and I guess that's what makes them the best fighting team among all of us. Maybe even better than Vegeta and Goku, when they can manage to work together...though they usually can't measure up to them just because they don't have the power their fathers do.

Makes me wonder what they'd accomplish if they had the same drive to train as their dads did. Probably the greatest of things this world'll ever see. For now though, they'll have to stay bloody and torn and smiling as they have their cake and eat it too.

So long as they have a fight every few years for us to gossip about.


End file.
